Friday July 22nd, 2011, 10:00 am

What are the quick wins for dealing with email overload with which so many suffer and which is effecting most people’s productivity? Shortmail – software which shortens emails to 500 characters (or five lines) is being pushed as one solution.

The underlying principle is absolutely correct. When we run email Brilliant Email workshops one of the key themes is ‘think five (and ten)’. Keep your email to five points and five (and at most ten lines). Using technology like Shortmail only tackles 20% of the email overload challenge. Tackling the other 80% from which the real wins come is about first changing our email behaviour and learning to write properly. This is skill which sadly many of Generation Y and Z lack and its loss is compounded by relying on technology rather than developing fundamental communications skills.

The other key to tackling email overload is to ‘think before hitting send’. Ask yourself why am I sending this email? Is it really needed? How will it help the recipient?

Smart personal email management is the key to tackling email overload. Only when you have dealt with the underlying poor email behaviour should you start thinking about technological solutions to help you squeeze out the extra productivity gains.